Online Audience

First I’d like to tell you about this great Indiegogo contest. All you have to do is go hereand vote for our favorite perk. First prize gets a $500 contribution, second prize a $300 contribution, and third prize a $200 contribution. Also, 5 randomly selected voters will receive an Indiegogo prize bag that include an Indiegogo tote bag with an Indiegogo water bottle, notebook, pen, and sticker. Cool stuff. Also, you can vote every hour or so, but that would just be asking too much from you. But if you want, I’m not gonna stop you.

And now for today’s topic. Online audience.

I know that for many artists the main goal is to see their novels in bookstores, to showcase their paintings and photographs in galleries, and so on. Basically, the dream takes place in the real world. But is it that important?

Truth be told, it is. And self-published authors and indie artists usually don’t get these chances. But the world is slowly moving online. We’re connected in so many way, that it’s a shame not to take advantage of these great opportunities.

First of all, you can find an audience. Easier, faster, cheaper (sometimes even free.) And that’s extremely important. Tell me what you want, tell me that you’re just doing art for art’s sake, but we both know that you do want an audience, that you do need someone (at least one person) to like your work. It gives you purpose, motivation, direction.

Let me tell you a story. When I was a kid, I wrote a novella. I won a couple of awards, then nothing happened. I couldn’t derive any pleasure from writing. I just wrote because I thought I was great at it. I wanted to impress people. And that in itself can be a great motivation. To want to show people just how good you are. But it just didn’t work for me. Because most of my friends, most of the people who mattered to me, they didn’t care about my stories. They didn’t read it, they just weren’t interested to hear about this or that contest or that new novel I was writing.

And I stopped writing. For a couple of years, I didn’t write. But then something happened. I found someone willing to read my stories. Just one person.

One person to genuinely like your stories. Not because they’re your friend, not because they owe you money. Because they really, really love your art. And I found a purpose. I found enough motivation to write a novel in a month.

Remember. Just one person. Not a million. I wasn’t earning any money, I wasn’t receiving fan letters, and the dream of getting published was still far away. But I felt like a better writer. And the more I wrote, the better writer I became. I was writing for someone. We can’t hide away from this. It matters so much.

That’s what this new online environment has to offer. An audience. Blogs, social networks, online stores, everything’s basically one click away. It takes a couple of minutes to publish a book through Amazon’s KDP platform. It takes less to upload a picture and sell your art as prints on Society6 or Redbubble.

But there’s also a catch. The platforms are easy to use, sometimes free, but that also means that we’ve got 8 million books on Amazon. It’s easier to be an artist than every before. Or maybe it’s just easier to try to find an audience. “Closet writers” self-publishing their novels through Smashwords.

That means that it’s difficult to find this audience. I’ve been pretty lucky. And I am grateful for that. I am grateful that this post gets to be read by many people. I can express my ideas knowing that they will reach someone. Maybe they’ll inspire someone. Some will agree, some will disagree. Others won’t care. But the thing is that I found my audience.

That’s what irevuo‘s all about. Helping artists find an audience. Giving them another platform, another way to reach that audience. To get noticed. We can’t distribute your novel in bookstores, can’t convince an art gallery to showcase your work, but we can try to find you some folks who genuinely love your art. And that matters. More than we, as the arrogant artists that we are like to admit.

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8 thoughts on “Online Audience”

I'm still trying to find an audience. But the strange thing is that I don't publish my blog posts on my Facebook or Twitter account. Like you mention above, most of the people I am friends with wouldn't really care. Maybe a few, but my problem is that I'm almost afraid to have my close friends read some of the stuff I write. I express myself differently in writing and I'm not sure how it would go over with my friends and family.

Definitely. You can't count on family and friends to care about your creative endeavors, but finding just one person who does can make all the difference in your motivation. And today's interconnected world certainly makes that a little easier.

I am loving this idea. I wish that I had money to contribute but all that I got to offer is my time. I'll keep voting and cross promoting through social platforms. Honesty is the most important virtue to me now since I've been trying to reinvent myself and it is so important to be realistic with yourself about what you are trying to do with your writing because it is not going to make you millions.

So true :) just that one can make all the difference. Motivate and encourage us. It's funny that those who are close to us we hope will read, yet they are often the ones who dont. Its the stranger, somewhere on planet earth, who reads it just at the right time for them. And a small miracle occurs. Who really knows whether what we write will make a difference, somewhere, some when. But if we didnt write, then that someone may not read what it is they are looking for. :)

That's precisely why I am using a pseudonym with my new book and why I don't include close friends and family with my online writings/posts. I had a lot of compliments regarding my book from those friends and family that I shared it with; but some results were startling. Some family members "disowned" me! Some people are mesmerized by their beliefs/traditions and refuse to open their minds at all! It's unbelievable what closed minds are capable of!

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